Carmarthenshire-based ISP Dyfed Superfast (Dyfed IT), which supplies wireless broadband services to premises across rural parts of Wales, has acquired rival network Pembs WiFi for an undisclosed sum and aims to extend gigabit broadband coverage. The latter had been building a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network.
Until recently Pembs WiFi was also focused upon building fixed wireless broadband (5GHz and 60GHz) networks to rural communities in Wales, but that changed in 2018 after they began building a new gigabit-capable “full fibre” network to cater for rural villages in Pembrokeshire (here). They’ve also built a hybrid fibre and wireless network to serve the Withybush industrial estate in Haverfordwest via their own duct network.
Since then we haven’t heard much from either provider, although we’ve today had confirmation that Dyfed IT have just completed an acquisition of Pembs WiFi, which officially took place last week. The Pembs WiFi website is now also redirecting to their new owners.
At the time of writing Dyfed IT hasn’t yet updated their website to reflect the merged coverage, but they have confirmed some tentative plans to “build out and expand” their current gigabit-capable fibre network to reach more residents of Pembrokeshire. The operator also has network deployments in parts of Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Powys.
Nat and Neil, Pembs Wifi Founders, said:
“Given we both live in Castlemorris and work from home ourselves we wanted to ensure the network will be taken over by a professional broadband provider we can trust, especially given we will both now be customers ourselves. In all our dealings with Dean, Gareth and their team at DyfedIT we feel assured they will look after the customers and invest in the network.”
Gareth Robinson, MD of Dyfed Superfast, said:
“This is a fantastic opportunity to expand service delivery and build on the great work done by the founders of Pembs WiFi.”
Dyfed said they intend to start expanding the Pembs WiFi network in the “coming months” by delivering “full fibre” services to more of Pembrokshire, although few details were included. “Our extensive Fibre duct network around Withybush allows us to deliver Gigabit connectivity to the business park residents and we have over 25 Gigabit connected FTTP customers already connected with more to come in the very near future,” said the ISP.
